The year is 20XX, in the middle of a robotic renaissance. Staggering advances in artificial intelligence and bionic augmentation have led to the development and widespread distribution of a new wave of cutting-edge androids. Known collectively as the Mechanized Masters, these chrome champions lead miniature armies of lesser drones in a variety of tasks, from agriculture to construction to national defense. The men responsible for this revolution? None other than the foremost leader of humanoid robotics, Dr. Thomas Light, and the forefather of the Variable Commands Grid, Dr. Albert Strider.
To keep both humans and robots distracted and entertained, a new sport has emerged alongside the new era. Broadcast around the world, hundreds of thousands of eager viewers tune in each week for another exciting installment of Arena Masters. Whether as a career or simply for sport, Mechanized Masters equip themselves with weapons and armor, then duke it out for their claim to fame.
With aggression kept to a minimum thanks to the Arena Masters program, it seems the world is at a peaceful standstill, humans and robots working in harmony towards a better future for all. Or so it would seem...This is
Protectors of Robot Kingdom, a post-by-post RPG featuring game mechanics from
Heroes and Morons. It's basically a tech demo. Cool.
But what
is it, anyway? Essentially, PoRK is set in a Mega-Man-esque alternate universe, with augmented humans alongside straight-up robots. The game flow is similar to Cutstuff Adventure 2, in that players alternate between exploration or role-playing scenes and turn-based battle scenes. There are a few...
differences between CSA2 and PoRK as far as gameplay is concerned, but that's not really super important right now. Just know that the game is more focused around combining different attacks together, and editing your character's loadout to perform better in battle.
The main mechanic of the game is the spending and budgeting of Combat Energy, or CE. Every ability in the game, except for consumable items, costs CE. Fighters automatically regenerate CE between turns, keeping a steady flow of energy; however, spending all your CE in one turn will leave you mostly dried up for later turns. Deciding whether to hold back or to unleash your entire arsenal is one of the game's biggest points.
Fighters can be one of six elemental types (Fire, Aqua, Bolt, Wood, Tera, or Void), although not all fighters are aligned with an element. In addition, attacks may have one of four physical classifications (Slash, Break, Scope, or Throw) based on its properties. Certain fighters take extra weakness damage from certain types of attacks; while the party can take advantage of weak points, keep in mind that enemies may do so as well.
Finally, the party will contain three "active" fighters at any given moment, with an optional fourth fighter as "support". The support character can't be targeted directly by the enemy party, though they can still attack or use items (albeit at limited capability). Due to the focus on smaller, faster battles,
I'm anticipating a maximum player count of 8. I feel that the lower head count will help with balancing the game, as well as ensuring that every character is distinct in playstyle and abilities.
Now for the fun part.
For this game, there is no list of predetermined characters or job classes or anything. Instead,
you will be submitting two characters (a desired main, and a runner-up option) based on Robot Masters from the classic series. Keep in mind that they don't have to literally
be those Robot Masters; actually, I'd prefer if you used a bit of imagination. Due to the nature of the game, you're free to interpret and re-imagine your choices in any way you so desire. Think of it kind of like Battle Network's NetNavi designs compared to their classic series counterparts... except that in PoRK they're still robots. And not really computer programs. ... You get the idea.
[Character Name] (The name for your character! Don't just call him Wave Man or whatever.)
Based On: (Who your character is based on. This is where you'd put "Wave Man" or whatever.)
Battle Style: (This could either be the type of attacks your character uses, like daggers or wrestling, or it could be how they play in-game, such as heavy offense or inflicting status ailments.)
Appearance: (Optional, though if you don't put one then I'll probably make one up for you. Y'know, role-playing and all that.)
Personality: (Also optional. Just give me an idea of how the character thinks or acts.)
Just in case you
don't get the idea, here are a few examples:
Cold Solitaire
Based On: Cold Man
Battle Style: Stockpiles buffs, then dumps that stored power onto enemies.
Appearance: Cold Solitaire has a diminutive frame, with a large padded torso and a big billowy cap on the head. She has thick fur boots and mittens, and covers her mouth with a scarf.
Personality: A lowly production drone optimized for cold environments, Cold Solitaire was upgraded for harsher conditions and given command of her own arctic station. Due to limited interaction with humans or advanced robots, she has become somewhat detached from the rest of the world, seemingly in a trance within the cold abyss.
Pharaoh Nightmare
Based on: Pharaoh Man
Battle Style: Ancient pyramid magic confuses and cripples enemies, forcing them to bow down under his might.
Personality: THE WEAK SHALL TREMBLE BEFORE ME
Miabel Double
Based On: Duo
Battle Style: Anything with fists!
Appearance: Short black hair with blue highlights. A large metal gauntlet over one arm, the other wrapped in bandages. Wears a leather jacket.
Personality: Distant and reserved, but gets fierce when in battle. Often worried about "purging the evil energy in your heart".
Of course, there
are a few rules, but don't let that get in the way of having a good time. They're mainly there to preserve my sanity.
Go nuts! ... Just not too nuts.
While it's fine to do something unconventional or flat-out strange, please don't ask for a character that has a move that changes his stats and also completely changes all of his other moves. Having moves change properties or elements or something is fine, I already have a design around that gimmick, but totally flipping the entire game on its head is a big no. If you're not sure, it's best to remain on the reasonable side of things.
Don't get super specific with moves.
I cannot stress this enough. Because I'm handling all of the movesets and everything, please don't come to me saying "Sword Paladin needs to have a Justice Slash attack that has a high burn chance". It's fine asking for Sword Paladin to have a move called Justice Slash, or to have a sword attack that's Fire element, but keep requests low and keep them simplistic.
You can't choose Mega Man, Bass, or Roll.
I'm pretty lax when it comes to characters. I'm fine with concepts inspired by Stardroids, or Rockman & Forte 2 RMs, or even those constellation weirdos from that one Mega Man strategy game. However, I do have a couple pre-existing characters on hand (mainly for story reasons), and because of that, I can't have two copies of what is essentially the same base character. Sorry guys.
Have some level of commitment.
This should go without saying, but (despite being a shameless tech demo) PoRK will hopefully last a little while. Don't sign up if you're not in for the long haul! Also, I'm hoping to update the game at least once a day, so for that reason the autocommand time limit is 24 hours. If you can't at least glance at the thread and make a quick post every now and then, don't sign up. Hopefully this won't be too much of an issue for anyone.
Don't get salty.
Signups are in the style of Cutstuff Adventure 2, where a bunch of dudes show up and then I hand-pick players for the final party. I'll be prioritizing players based on their concepts, availability, and party balance (won't do much good to have four physical tanks in an 8-man squad). There will also be slight priority given to players not currently enrolled in CSA2, though this doesn't mean you can't get in if you're in CSA2. Generally speaking though, if you don't get in, don't take it personally. I probably didn't mean it.
Most importantly, have fun!
Even if you don't get in, I might end up using your concept anyway as an NPC character somewhere in the game. The whole point of the game is to have fun, so come in with a good attitude and I'm sure it'll all work out in the end.
Cool? Cool. Let's get this PoRK on the grill already.
Registered Players (green indicates the final roster):
Magnet Dood
Thunderono
Gumballtoid
TGOT
Sonicfam
Galactan
Dr. Freeman
Myroc
Lego
Jennifer
Cold Fusion
Red
LlamaHombre
Spiderpig
Turbodude
Watzup
Blews
Isaac
Ceridran
Zero1000
Sir Juicy
Korby
Zytix
Hilman
DrMario2
Jman
Rui
Super Raveman
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